Smoke Forecast for Wednesday, August 28 2024 9:30 AM

August 28 2024

Current Conditions

A strong cool front swept across the state on Tuesday. It is providing much cooler air and temporarily helping to reduce smoke production on regional wildfires.

The Wye fire burning about 30 miles west of Hamilton continues to generate smoke in the region. It has burned more than 6,700 acres and is 0% contained. The Sharrott Creek fire is burning just west of Stevensville and has burned more than 1,100 acres and is 0% contained. These fires received some rain on Tuesday and fire behavior will be moderated as a result.

The Remington fire started in Wyoming last week. It is burning in mainly grassland and scrubland. The fire quickly expanded north into Montana over the weekend and has now burned nearly 200,000 acres. Fire crews made a lot of progress over the last 24 hours and the fire is now 50% contained.

At 9:00 AM Wednesday, Great Falls, West Yellowstone, and Bozeman were enduring Moderate air quality.

Wednesday morning’s satellite shows a strong cool front marching across the state with lingering smoke across Central Idaho.

Source: NOAA

Forecast

A cold front swept across the region on Tuesday. It provided some beneficial rain on many regional wildfires. Expect at least a temporary reduction in smoke production and moderated fire behavior because of the precipitation and cooler air. Light rain and even some snow is possible above 5,000 feet through Wednesday evening.

Dry and breezy conditions are anticipated for Thursday across the Northern Rockies. As a result, expect fire behavior and smoke production to ramp up. The flow will be out of the west and northwest, so wildfires smoke from Central Idaho will impact the western half of the state.

Starting Friday, a ridge of high pressure builds across the area. Expect the usual diurnal fluctuations in smoke with this pattern. Overnight, smoke will pool and drain into the valleys adjacent to the wildfires, leading to deteriorating air quality. Once the inversion breaks by late morning or midday, better mixing should help scour out the valley smoke, leading to better air quality. Temperatures will gradually moderate under this pattern, with afternoon highs in the 90s for many of the valleys by the holiday weekend.

By Wednesday night, the HRRR smoke model shows smoke moving into parts of Southwest Montana from regional wildfires.

Source: HRRR Smoke

Conditions can change quickly as weather could stimulate active fires and the likelihood of new starts increases. Please keep track of concentrations at todaysair.mtdeq.us or the Fire and Smoke Map.

Current Wildfires

Current Wildfires
Incident	State	location	acres	containment
Middle Fork Complex Fire: Bulldog, Nellie, Anderson - IDBOF	Idaho	9 miles east of Garden Valley, ID	47,978	5%
Wapiti Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	2 miles southwest of Grandjean, ID	79,745	0%
Limepoint Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	8 miles NE of Oxbow Dam	32,636	88%
Boulder Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	9 Miles southwest of Cascade, Idaho.	2,396	57%
Goat Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	11 miles SE of Cascade, Idaho	2,274	0%
Wolf Creek Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	11 Miles NW of Cascade, ID	1,154	95%
Snag Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	9.5 miles East of Cascade, Idaho	27,458	3%
Dollar Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	18 miles NE of Cascade, Idaho	2,937	0%
2024 Flat - IDIDS	Idaho	One mile east of Pioneerville, Idaho	3,734	61%
Farrow Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	NA	852	NA
Burnt Creek Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	NA	600	NA
Parks Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	NA	2,043	NA
Cracker Jack Complex - IDNCF	Idaho	All four fires are located within half a mile of each other: two and a half miles east of Concord, ID, less than a quarter acre east from Square Lake and less than a quarter acre west from Fish Lake.	702	NA
Surprise Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Three and one-half miles NE of Hunter Peak, Fifteen miles NW of Darby, MT in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness	20	NA
Bulltrout Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	15 miles WNW OF Stanley, ID	271	92%
Wye Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Approximately four and a half miles northwest of Freeman Peak and seven miles northeast of the Moose Creek Airstrip	5,815	NA
Monumental Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	NA	11	NA
Anchor Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	About half way between Hanover Mountain and Square Mountain in the Gospel Hump Wilderness	135	NA
Ace Butte Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Approximately 30 miles Southeast of Grangeville, Idaho	152	NA
Robbin Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Within Game Unit 12: located less than six and a half miles southwest of Powell Ranger Station and less than three and a half miles south of Wendover Campground	NA	NA
Grave Butte Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Within Game Unit 12: located ten miles west of Jerry Johnson Campground and about half a mile from National Forest Service Road #107 (Saddle Camp Road)	10	NA
Boulder Creek Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Within Game Unit 12: located ten miles north of the Powell Ranger Station and 12 miles west of Lolo Hot Springs	25	NA
Bench Lake Fire - IDSTF	Idaho	8 miles south of Stanley, Idaho	2,595	90%
Remington Fire - MTGNF	Montana	14 miles NE of Leiter, WY, multiple counties in southeast Montana.	196,459	50%
Sharrott Creek Fire - MTBRF	Montana	Three miles west of Stevensville, Montana	1,130	0%
Grouse - MTBDF	Montana	Ten miles southwest of Wise River, MT	4,200	22%
McElwain Fire - MTMTS	Montana	10 miles west of Helmville, MT	176	5%
Ratio Mountain - MTBDF	Montana	15 miles northwest of Whitehall, MT.	451	NA
Big Hollow Fire - MTMTS	Montana	36 miles southwest of Dillon, MT	3,415	40%
Railroad-Daly Fire - MTBRF	Montana	Railroad Creek/ Skalkaho Creek confluence, 26 miles SE of Hamilton	98	1%
Johnson Fire - MTBRF	Montana	3 miles west of the Springer Memorial Community in the East Fork on the Bitterroot NF	370	0%
Elkhorn Ridge - MTBRF	Montana	West Fork District	2,482	0%
North Willamette Complex - ORWIF	Oregon	Willamette National Forest	4,462	NA
Middle Fork Fire - ORCLP	Oregon	Crater Lake National Park; Middle Fork area	5,280	27%
Diamond Complex - ORUPF	Oregon	18 miles southwest of Chemult, Oregon	11,152	73%
Whisky Creek Fire - ORMHF	Oregon	East fork of Herman Creek, 6 miles SE of Cascade Locks, OR	2,075	24%
Sandstone Fire - ORMHF	Oregon	9 miles SW of Ripplebrook, OR, on the Mt. Hood National Forest	702	59%
Red Fire - ORDEF	Oregon	Diamond Peak Wilderness, 16 miles west, north-west of Crescent Oregon.	755	0%
Homestead Complex - ORUPF	Oregon	Thirty miles northeast of Glide Oregon	5,909	50%
Lone Rock Fire - ORPRD	Oregon	Lonerock stretching to west of HWY 207 and south to HWY 19	137,222	98%
Crazy Creek - OROCF	Oregon	Crazy Creek:16 miles north of Paulina, OR	86,968	93%
Cottage Grove - Lane 1 - OR77S	Oregon	Approximately 16 miles SE of Springfield, OR	25,265	90%
Dixon Fire - ORUPF	Oregon	Tiller, Oregon	1,970	87%
Pioneer - WASES	Washington	Approximate start 10 miles southeast of Stehekin, WA	38,735	23%
Ruby Fire - WANCP	Washington	On Ruby Mountain in North Cascade National Park by Diablo and Ross Lake, 9 miles East of Newhalem	959	0%
Williams Mine Fire-GPNF - WAGPF	Washington	3.5 miles NNW of Trout Lake WA	11,778	31%
Upper Ruby - WACOF	Washington	Ruby Creek Drainage - approximately 16 miles northwest of Cusick, WA	280	39%
2620 Road Fire - WAOLC	Washington	The fire is located 5 miles West of Brinnon Washington.	398	93%
Pincer Two Fire - WAMSF	Washington	Johannesburg Mountain. 1 Mile East of Mineral Park Campground	189	0%
Easy Fire - WAOWF	Washington	North Cascades Hwy 20 Corridor, 17 air miles west of Mazama, WA	2,130	36%
Six Mile - WACOA	Washington	Two miles east of Nine Mile Hellgate Road, near the head of Cottonwood Creek	113	90%
Stranger Creek II - WACOA	Washington	NA	66	90%
Clearwater - WYSHF	Wyoming	11 Miles West of Wapiti, Wyoming	1,966	75%
House Draw Fire - WYHPD	Wyoming	9 Mile SE of Buffalo	174,683	94%
Fish Creek Fire - WYBTF	Wyoming	Approximately 7 miles southwest of Togwotee Pass	11,397	NA

Source: Inciweb

Tags: Smoke Forecast 2024